Marillion Script For A Jester's Tear (1983,1997) 2cd

At the time, Marillion's remarkable, full-fledged 1983 debut Script for a Jester's Tear was considered an odd bird: replete with Peter Gabriel face paint and lengthy, technical compositions, Marillion ushered in a new generation of prog rock that bound them forever to the heroics of early day Genesis. Intricate, complex, and theatrical almost to a fault, Script for a Jester's Tear remains the band's best and sets the bar for their later work. Filled with extraordinary songs that remained staples in the band's live gigs, the album begins with the poignant title track, on which Fish leads his band of merry men on a brokenhearted tour de force that culminates with the singer decrying that "…the game is over." "He Knows You Know,," a song sprinkled with drug paranoia and guilt; as the song veers to its chorus, Fish announces, "Fast feed, crystal fever, swarming through a fractured mind…

At the time, Marillion's remarkable, full-fledged 1983 debut Script for a Jester's Tear was considered an odd bird: replete with Peter Gabriel face paint and lengthy, technical compositions, Marillion ushered in a new generation of prog rock that bound them forever to the heroics of early day Genesis. Intricate, complex, and theatrical almost to a fault, Script for a Jester's Tear remains the band's best and sets the bar for their later work. Filled with extraordinary songs that remained staples in the band's live gigs, the album begins with the poignant title track, on which Fish leads his band of merry men on a brokenhearted tour de force that culminates with the singer decrying that "…the game is over." "He Knows You Know,," a song sprinkled with drug paranoia and guilt; as the song veers to its chorus, Fish announces, "Fast feed, crystal fever, swarming through a fractured mind…

Originally released in March 1983, Script for a Jester’s Tear was certified platinum in the band’s native U.K. where it reached number seven on the Albums Chart and spawned two Top 40 singles: “He Knows You Know” (#35) and “Garden Party” (#16)…

At the time, Marillion's remarkable, full-fledged 1983 debut Script for a Jester's Tear was considered an odd bird: replete with Peter Gabriel face paint and lengthy, technical compositions, Marillion ushered in a new generation of prog rock that bound them forever to the heroics of early day Genesis. Intricate, complex, and theatrical almost to a fault, Script for a Jester's Tear remains the band's best and sets the bar for their later work. Filled with extraordinary songs that remained staples in the band's live gigs, the album begins with the poignant title track, on which Fish leads his band of merry men on a brokenhearted tour de force that culminates with the singer decrying that "…the game is over"…

The early 1980s was perhaps the worst time in musical history to be a prog-rock band, much less to start a new one, but that's just what the hardy souls in Marillion did. Little could anyone have imagined that they'd set off a whole wave of "neo-prog" in the UK. At a time when synth-pop was all the rage, and unassuming ditties ruled the charts, Marillion's debut album, SCRIPT FOR A JESTER'S TEAR nodded proudly to such ambitious forebears as Pink Floyd and Peter Gabriel-era Genesis. Lead vocalist Fish, in fact, bore an uncanny sonic similarity to Gabriel, a fact that his penchant for onstage theatrics did little to discourage. In turn, the rest of the band offered a '70s-flavored blend of Floyd/Camel-like melodic guitar lines, Rick Wakeman-with-an-attitude multi-keyboard cascades, and odd-metered rhythms.

If that was the whole story, Marillion would have been written off as mere revivalists. The real spark of SCRIPT lies in the fact that it filtered these influenced through a sense of urgency and concision that could only have come from living through the post-punk era. In fact, many of Fish's lyrical themes were concerned with skewering the upper classes in a manner not dissimilar to the likes of Ian Dury or any Thatcher-hating New Waver of the era. Prog was born anew with SCRIPT, and it had a chip on its shoulder.

Re-issue contains a bonus disc featuring album tracks, B sides, studio takes & demos.

One of the few Neo Prog albums I really like. It clearly reminds of Genesis (Peter Gabriel's era of course), but it's not a copy, it's more of a "continuation" of what has been done in the previous decade. In my opinion one of the best albums of the '80s.